Bearcats Open 2008-09 Regular Season Against Detroit

Nov. 13, 2008

Game Notes | |

Bearcats Open 2008-09 Regular Season Against Detroit
The University of Cincinnati women's basketball team will open its 2008-09 season on Friday, Nov. 14, against Detroit at 7 p.m. in Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats, under second-year head coach J. Kelley Hall, are looking to improve on last season's 12-16 mark. Detroit, which finished last season with a 6-24 overall record, has a new head coach in Detroit graduate Autumn Rademacher.

THE SERIES
The Bearcats are 6-2 all-time against Detroit, most recently winning, 71-55, on Nov. 26, 2005. In the first meeting in the series, the Bearcats topped the Titans, 87-52, on Dec. 20, 1982. The last UC loss in the series was on Dec. 17, 1990, a 70-61 setback on the road.

THE COACH
J. Kelley Hall enters his second season at Cincinnati after being named the seventh head coach in school history on April 4, 2007. Hall previously held the top spot at Louisiana-Lafayette, earning Sun Belt Coach of the Year honors in 2004-05. He is the winningest coach in ULL history and led the 2006-07 team to the NCAA Tournament, the first in school history. Hall has held assistant positions at Alabama, Mississippi State, Auburn, Cal State Fullerton, and Louisville. He was the head coach at a pair of junior colleges early in his career, leading Gordon College in 1984-85 and spending seven seasons at Truett-McConnel College. He holds a 302-134 overall record and a 98-78 Division I head coaching ledger.

• The Bearcats welcome back two players who missed all of 2007-08 in juniors Shelly Bellman and Michelle Jones.
• UC returns four starters from last season and 78 percent of its minutes played, 81 percent of its scoring, and 86 percent of its rebounding.
• Junior guard Kahla Roudebush is the Bearcats' leading returning scorer. She averaged 16.5 points per outing in 2007-08 and finished in the Top 10 in the BIG EAST in scoring (16.5 ppg, 7th), three-point field goal percentage (.398, 9th), and three-pointers per game (2.36, 5th).
• Senior Jill Stephens is UC's top returning rebounder after averaging 9.4 rebounds per game last season, third in the BIG EAST. She also finished fourth in the conference in three-point field goal percentage (.422).
• Freshman point guard Shanasa Sanders will be relied upon heavily with the absence of junior Stephanie Stevens. Sanders played big minutes in UC's exhibition games and will be spelled by Roudebush.

EXHIBITION SLATE

• The Bearcats dropped both exhibition contests, falling to defending Division II national champion Northern Kentucky, 56-52, in the opener on Nov. 1 and dropping a 60-54 decision against the OGBR Legends on Nov. 7.
• Kahla Roudebush led the Bearcats in scoring and rebounding in both contests, scoring 12 points against NKU and 15 against the OGBR Legends.
• Freshman Val Schuster scored 8.5 points per game and added 5.0 rebounds in her first collegiate action.
• Freshman point guard Shanasa Sanders started both matchups at point guard and averaged 32.5 minutes per game.

GUESS WHO'S BACK

• Juniors Shelly Bellman and Michelle Jones, that's who.
• Bellman, a 5-10 guard/forward, missed the entire 2007-08 season after tearing her ACL in preseason practice. She averaged 10.6 points over 57 games during her freshman and junior campaigns and led the Bearcats in rebounding in both years, averaging over 6.0 board per contest.
• Jones, a 6-1 post, returns after missing the 2007-08 season. She is a 10.4 point-per-game scorer in her career and led the team in offensive rebounding in each of her first two seasons. In fact, Jones has more offensive rebounds than defensive boards in her career (168-155).

LITTLE BIT OF OLD, LITTLE BIT OF NEW

• The Bearcats return four starters from a season ago, but welcome five newcomers and two likely starters return from missing the 2007-08 season.
• J. Kelley Hall and his coaching staff have six players on the roster that they have coached and seven players that are new to the Hall style of basketball.

ROUDEBUSH PICKS UP WHERE SHE LEFT OFF

• Junior sharpshooter Kahla Roudebush made her mark on the UC record books last season with her three-point shooting. She led the Bearcats in 2007-08, scoring 16.5 points per game and knocking down 66 triples.
• Roudebush missed the bulk of the 2006-07 season after shoulder and knee injuries.
• Roudebush led the Bearcats, scoring 13.5 points per game during the 2008-09 exhibition schedule.

SUPER STEPHENS

• Senior Jill Stephens is the top returning rebounder for the Bearcats, having grabbed 9.4 boards in 2007-08, which ranked third in the BIG EAST.
• Stephens led the league in minutes played, averaging 37.4 minutes per contest.
• She led the Bearcats in three-point shooting percentage, firing at a .422 clip last season.
• Stephens posted 10 double-doubles in 2007-08.
• She grabbed a career-high and Fifth Third Arena record 14 offensive rebounds against McNeese State last season.

BEARCATS PICKED 15TH

• Cincinnati was picked by the league's coaches to finish 15th in the BIG EAST in 2007-08.
• Connecticut is the preseason favorite, followed by Rutgers and Louisville.

UC SIGNS PAIR

• The Bearcats have signed a pair of prep standouts who will join the squad for the 2009-10 season.
• Daress McClung, a 6-0 guard/forward from Indianapolis, Ind., is a two-year letterwinner at Lawrence North High School. She averaged 14 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 3.0 steals, and 3.0 blocks per game as a junior and helped the Wildcats to conference and sectional titles during her sophomore season.
• Bryonna Snow, a 6-1 forward, is a three-year letterwinner at Blue Springs High School in Blue Springs, Mo. A three-time all-conference and two-time all-city selection, she helped the Wildcats to three conference championships and a district title during her three-year varsity career.